yon alten



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. r

P. B. VON ALTEN;

UAR COUPLING.

No. 391,993. atented Oct. 30, 1888.

Witnesses, Inventor (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

P. B. VON ALTEN.

GAR GOUPLING.

No. 391,993. Patented 001;. 30, 1888.

NITED STATES PATENT FFICEQ FRIEDRICH BRUNO VON ALTEN, OF REINBECK,PRUSSIA, GERMANY.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 391,993, dated October30, 1888.

Application filed August 10, 1888. Serial No. 282,448. (No model.)Patented in Germany March 13, 1888. No. 44,253.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRIEDRICH BRUNO VON ALTEN, a subject of the 'Emperorof Germany, residing at Reinbeck, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-OarCouplings, (for which I have obtained Letters Patent in Germany, datedMarch 13, 1888, No. 44, 253,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway-car couplings by which the coupling iseffected automatically, while the device for uncoupling is actuated fromthe side of the car; and the objects of my improvements are tofacilitate the coupling and uncoupling of cars and to provide a verysecure connection of the same. I attain these objects by the mechanismillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a topview of the ends of two cars coupled together and both provided with myimproved coupling device. Fig. 2 is the side elevation of my improvedcoupling device, and Fig. 3 the front view thereof.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views,

Each end of the car is provided with a coupling-hook, a, and a couplinglink or eye, I), both placed in such a manner that the correspondinghooks and eyes of any other car to be coupled will always meet theirrespective hook and eye of the adjacent car. Both the hook and eye areeach pivoted, respectively, to a rod, t t, by means of the verticalbolts 0 c, and, corresponding to the vertically-placed eye I), the hooklies on its side, so as to engage with the former. The rods 25 t, bywhich the coupling hooks and eyes are connected with the car-body, areprovided in the usual manner with ordinary coiled springs, ff, servingnot only to elastically communicate the tractive strain on the hooks andeyes to the car-body, but also to effect the coupling and uncoupling.For this reason the coupling hook and eye at each end of the car areconnected with each other by means of a cross-bar or traverse, d, whichis secured to the end i of the car by a pair of links, 9 g, in such amanner that the bardand the links 9 gform,with the car end, aparallelogram of variable angles. The hook or empty.

a and loop 12 are continued through the crossbar at and are providedwith suitable shoulders, k k, adapted to bear against the cross-bar clin obedience to the action of the springs ff.

\Vhen two cars are pushed together, the hooks to and the eyes I) willyield to the thrust and connect automatically.

As a sufficient amount of lateral play is allowed, both the hooks andeyes are caused by means of the wedge-shaped surface of the hooks toswing on their respective pivots c a, trans mitting at the same time alateral motion to the crossbars d. By this movement the links gg causethe cross-bar d to move at the same time away from the car end 1'', andas the shoulders kit of the coupling hooks and eyes bear against thecross bar (I the strain on the rods t t and the springsff is elasticallycommunicated to the car-body. As soon as the couplingeyes b have passedthe nose of their respective hooks the tension of the springsff forcesthe coup ling-eyes to engage securely with the hooks. The cars arethereby automatically coupled and the hooks and eyes are tightened upunder the action of the springsff.

The couplingeyes I) are considerably enlarged to enable them to engagesafely with the corresponding hooks under all circumstances,notwithstanding some of the cars being loaded When a car has to beuncoupled, the crossbar (1 of one car only has to be moved into theposition shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. To effect this, a lateralparallel forward movement of the cross-bar (1 must be imparted by anyknown means to the latter, as, by way of example, is illustrated in thedrawings. For this purpose the link in serves to connect the traverse d,by means of the bolt a, to the rack Z, which meshes with a pinion,p. Therack is guided on its back by an antifriction roller, 5, and thepinion 1) may be turned by means of a wrench, c, which will cause'thelateral and parallel forward movement of the cross-bar or traverse d.The latter communicates a corresponding motion equally to the hook a andto the eye b, which latter are thereby caused to release theirrespective coupling devices on the adjacent car.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is- 1. A railway-coupling consisting of a coupling-hooklying on its side and a verticallyplaced link or eye, connected witheach other by means of a crossbar, which is secured to the end of a carvin such a manner that on lateral movement its distance from the ear endis at the same time varied, and thereby the coupling device caused toautomatically engage with the corresponding hook and eye on the adjacentcar under the action of springs connected thereto.

2. In a railwaycoupling, the combination of the coupling-hook a and eyeI), pivoted to the rods 1 t, elastically connected to the carbody, withthe cross-bar d, secured to the car end by links 9 g, substantially asand for the purpose specified.

3. In a railway-coupling, the combination of the coupling-hook a and eyeI), pivoted to the elastically-extensible rodst t,with a crossbar, (1,and the links 99', forming,with the car end, a parallelogram of variableangles, all substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses, this 7th day of July, 1888.

FRIEDR. BRUNO VON AL'IEN.

\Vitnesses:

ALEXANDER Srncrrr, Dmnnrcn PETERSEN.

